The Internet just isn’t a safe place

There’s absolutely no doubt that the Internet is and will remain a critical component of the business world. Indeed, businesses just can’t function without it anymore – trucking included.

That’s why everyone also needs to remember that the Internet is anything but a safe place. For example, a new web security studyconducted by Webrootrecently discerned that most organizations allowing employees to freely access the Internet are experiencing high rates of malware threats, including phishing attacks, spyware, “keyloggers” and hacked passwords.

Indeed, Webroot’s study reveals that Internet-borne attacks are impacting businesses, with the majority of them reporting significant effects in the form of increased help desk time, reduced employee productivity and disruption of business activities. Here are just some of the firm’s worrisome findings:

8 in 10 companies experienced one or more kinds of web-borne attacks in 2012

Phishing is the most prevalent web-borne attack, affecting 55% of companies

Webroot’s study, which surveyed Internet security decision-makers in the U.S. and United Kingdom, found an overwhelming 79% percent of companies experienced web-borne attacks in 2012 and that almost all of the web security administrators polled agreed that Web browsing is a serious malware risk to their companies.

Yet despite the obvious awareness of the risks, only 56% of participants said they had implemented Web security protection and more than half of companies without web security had web sites compromised.

"Protecting against Web-borne malware should be a high priority for all organizations since once inside a network, the propagation of malware can take down the entire company, effectively disabling an organization," argued Sara Radicati, president and CEO at Radicati Group, who participated in the survey.

The major trends that are driving businesses and information technology today—mobility, social networking, “Bring your own device” or “BYOD” policies, along with cloud computing—are also making organizations more susceptible to security attacks, added David Duncan, chief marketing officer at Webroot.

More than ever, cybercriminals are taking advantage of these web-based vulnerabilities, making the threat landscape more challenging, with “phishing” representing one of the fastest-growing causes of breaches and data loss as cybercriminals become progressively adept at luring users into divulging sensitive corporate data, he said.

"It's no surprise that the latest study shows that attacks are increasing in frequency, complexity and scale,” Duncan noted.

“Organizations need to implement layered defenses from the endpoint to the network to understand not only what is happening but where the attacks are manifesting from and when,” he stressed. “Given that instantaneous attacks are morphing constantly and are eluding traditional detection mechanisms, organizations require a cloud-based solution that is effective in this new environment, as well as easy to deploy, quick to respond and flexible to address today's sophisticated cyber-threats."

Something to keep in mind as trucking navigates an ever-more digitally-based freight environment.